Love in Tennis
by PynkPlayar
Summary: Ryuzaki Sakuno knew it was just a joke. But she couldn’t help but feel discouraged. What if it was true? What if it applied to HIM? "Mou..." she whispered under her breath. Her first day and so far, she was not loving tennis.


**Love in Tennis  
**A Prince of Tennis Oneshot  
Written by PynkPlayar

**Disclaimer: **Prince of Tennis characters belong to Takeshi Konomi**  
Rated:** K+**  
Warning:** Lameness and OOC may be incorporated.

**Note:** Takes place shortly after Ryoma & Sakuno's first meeting.  
Inspired by my own experience by a joke my own tennis instructor told me on my first day at tennis two years ago.

Edited 04-12-2009

**Summary:** Ryuzaki Sakuno knew it was just a joke. But she couldn't help but feel a little discouraged. What if it was true? What if it applied to him? "Mou…" she whispered under her breath. It was only her first day, and so far she was not loving tennis.

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"Alright Seigaku girls! We can't let just the boy's team take all the glory! Let's work hard this year!" boomed a senior, thrusting her fist into the air as to confirm her leadership, enthusiasm, and encouragement.

It was a pleasant day, the illuminating sun overhead and a soft breeze whistling through the pigtails and ponytails of the crowd of girls, all dressed in pleated skirts, white polo shirts, and _tennis_ shoes.

The captain's eyes scanned the faces before her; stared at the numerous pairs of eyes that stared back at her. _It looks like it's going to be a good year, _thought the captain with hope.

But one pair of eyes was looking else where, unnoticed.

That one pairs of eyes, large and russet-colored, belong to a certain girl who twiddled with the ends of her hair --long and styled in low twin, sienna braids like any and everyday.

"Can I have all girls new to playing tennis stay here with me? The rest of you will split up into groups accordingly and will be directed by the other seniors," instructed the girl's team captain.

The crowd broke into many clusters, the scuffling of sneakers on concrete amplifying and then dimming until only six girls were left.

"Okay! This is awesome!" said the captain spiritedly. "I'm glad you all decided to join! First, I would like to go over the basic rules of tennis."

"Obviously, the goal is to win, right? Tennis consists of several games which determine the outcome of the overall match. In our tournaments, first player or team to win 6 games will win the match. If the match score is ever 5-5, then the first person to 7 games wins. If both teams have a match score of 6-6, then it'll go into a… a sudden death, if you will. But we won't deal with that today."

Five girls contorted their faces, utterly confused. The captain laughed lightly at their reaction. The sixth girl, however, had stopped fiddling with her braided pigtails and had commenced fiddling with the hem of her lilac skirt. The captain failed to notice this specific girl's inattentiveness.

"Scoring in tennis is a little weird. In a game, each side starts off with a score of zero, or as in tennis, we call it 'love.' Every time a player scores a point, their score becomes a certain number. It goes LOVE, 15, 30, 40, and then GAME. So it's LOVE, 15, 30, 40, and then GAME. Any questions on scoring so far?"

A dark-haired girl with a tan complexion and a high pony tail piped up. "Why do the scores in tennis go up by 15, and then for the second to last point they just go up by 10? That makes no sense."

The captain just chortled. "Ha ha, you're right! But to be honest with you, I have no idea why it works like that. It just does."

"Okay, so if anyone doesn't have any more questions, I have a little joke for you guys, just so we can warm up to each other."

Clearing her throat, the captain prepared herself for what she thought was a very clever little joke on her part:

"So, do you guys know why you should never marry a tennis player?

The question caught the attention of everyone. Yes, _everyone_. Even the fidgety girl's ears had perked up at the subject.

"Never marry a tennis player…"

"...because to them, _love_ means _nothing_!"

Five girls laughed and giggled awkwardly. The captain only beamed, impressed with her own charisma. The sixth girl, however, held her breath and everything around her just became white noise.

Ryuuzaki Sakuno knew that it was just a joke. But she couldn't help but feel a little discouraged. What if it was true? What if it applied to _him_?

"Mou…" she whispered under her breath. Her first day, and so far…

She was_ not_ loving tennis.

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"…" The only thought that came to mind at that instance was, _Why me?_

"Oi, Echizen! Look at you!" exclaimed a spikey-haired junior.

"Hoi, hoi! A bird pooped on Ochibi! What luck!!" a band-aided senior chimed ecstatically.

"Hey Echizen! It's a lucky day for you! Good fortune for being so young!"

"What are you talking about?" stately the preteen bluntly. _How can a sullied hat be good at all?_

"My grandma told me that having a bird poop on your head is good luck!" prompted Momoshiro.

"Has your grandma ever been pooped on before?"

"Well… no."

"Screw granny."

"Ochibi! Didn't your parents ever teach you good manners?"

"Tch."

"Hey Echizen! You can't just leave practice!" Momoshiro called.

"Momoshiro! Focus or laps!"

"Yes, Tezuka-bucho…"

"Ha ha, Momo-chan!~"

"Eiji! You too!"

"Eeek!"

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As he made his way over to the cleaning area, Echizen Ryoma felt something had got amiss.

And he wasn't _just_ talking about the bird poop…

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He was washing his face, the icy water dripping on his face only distinguishing his features even more. He reminded himself that he should probably hurry and get back to practice, when he realized he already wasn't there so, heck, why rush things? While he was skipping out, he pondered if he should go get a ponta…

"Ryoma-kun!"

A startled voice interrupted his thoughts. Just when he thought he would have solitude.

Ryoma lifted his gaze only to meet those large, russet-colored pair of eyes and only to see those low twin, sienna braids.

"Ah."

Silence. This duo of 12 year-olds entered a period of awkwardness.

Sakuno didn't know what to say after greeting the tennis star. Ryoma just didn't care to respond and continued to wash his hat.

Bird poop was supposed to guarantee him good luck according to Granny Momoshiro, and now he was stuck here washing his hat with an unexpected spectator.

_Maybe if I just don't say anything, she'll leave… just keep washing the hat, just keep washing…_

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_So awkward_, thought Sakuno.

Being the desperate child she was, Sakuno attempted to make conversation:

"Ryoma-kun, the captain of the girl's tennis team told us a joke today."

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_A joke? Pshh… Tezuka-bucho could never tell a joke even if he tried._

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"So, um… she said that you should never marry a tennis player, because to them love means nothing. Funny, right? Aha…ha…"

"…"

"Yeah…"

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Echizen Ryoma was an observant kind of fellow. He wasn't as oblivious as people read him to be. He could interpret human gestures and facial expressions and such just fine. Well, sometimes. And if he did, he just chose not to do anything about it.

But somehow, this was different. Probably because of this girl with the large, russet-colored eyes and the low twin, sienna braids.

"_Do you really believe that?_" he replied, unconsciously in English.

"Ne?"

"_That is ridiculous._" he stated, trying to convince. But who he was trying to convince, he didn't know.

"Ryoma-kun, are you speaking English? I can't…understand…"

"_You innocent, naive girl…_" he spoke in a lower tone. His voice almost disappeared. "_So innocent and naïve yet…_"

"Ryoma-kun? Could you speak Japanese?" Sakuno interjected.

Ryoma blinked. What was he saying? He didn't even know. He needed to verify that she didn't as well: "Sakuno, do you do well in English class?"

"Ano… no, not really."

"_Good._" he replied. He turned away and began to make his way over to the courts.

She trotted after him, stumbling slightly while trying to close the distance between them. "Wait… what?"

He turned his head to give her one last gaze. "_You have lots to learn, Sakuno._"

"Ehh?!"

He turned away, waved a hand, and called, "Mada mada dane."

"Mou…Ryoma-kun is so confusing."

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_Never marry a tennis player,_

_Because to them love means nothing_

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Little did she know that Echizen Ryoma wasn't just any tennis player.

He was the _prince of tennis_.

And every prince needs his princess.

But hey, he didn't even know that either.

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**Fin.**

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**A/N: **Thank you for reading this oneshot! Sorry if the transitions between perspectives are a little confusing. Also, someone correct me on the whole scoring of tennis if I got something wrong –I learned all that stuff before, but I don't totally remember it! Read and Review! XD

By the way, _italics_ are thoughts. "_Italics in quotes_" is Ryoma speaking in English. Sorry if I screwed up any of the Japanese stuffems. ^^;

Also, I apologize for any grammatical, punctuation, and any other errors. I kind of did this in like 2 hours… 10:30pm-12:30am!! I did go over it, but I probably missed something.

Edit: I realize that a lot of you readers probably did not get my awkward turtle reference. Sorry! It's an American thing I guess. So I deleted it. I also cleaned the fic up a little more. ;)


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